Food Bill: Is a central food scheme necessary?

TN, Chattisgarh already successful; Karnataka,MP,Odisha have announced schemes

Food security has today become a reality after the Lok Sabha passed the bill on monday. The Rajya Sabha must now approve the bill before it becomes a law.

With this, almost 800 million of India's 1.2 billion population will now be entitled to 5 kgs of foodgrain each a month at subsidized rates. Subsidized rates are--Rs 3 a kg for rice, Rs 2 a kg for wheat and Rs 1 a kg for coarse grains.

The food subsidy will swell to Rs 1,24,724 crore in a year at 2013-14 costs. The Budget had pegged food subsidy at Rs 90,000 crore for 2013-14.

But one big question is whether such a scheme was necessary when several states are already running successful schemes.

While Chattisgarh has been the trendsetter with the enactment of the food security bill 2012 that covers 90% of the population, Tamil Nadu has reported similar success with its universal PDS. Other states like Madhya Pradesh has already announced the availability of wheat at Rs 1/kg and rice at Rs 2/kg to poor families from June 1. While Andhra Pradesh also offers rice at subsidised rates, Odisha has also announced a similar plan.

Congress-ruled Delhi, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Rajasthan have officially started allocating foodgrains according to the provisions of the National Food Security Ordinance from 20th August, 2013.

Lets take a look at what various states are doing:

1) Chhattisgarh: The trendsetter

2)Universal PDS already provides food security in Tamil Nadu

3) Karnataka to launch food security scheme from July 10

4) Madhya Pradesh 3rd state to give subsidised grain

5) Can scheme be a game-changer in Odisha polls?